“As long as unemployment is at a high rate and with skittish consumer confidence, this will remain a challenging retail environment. … We always plan for the environment we’re in. Right now, we don’t expect to get the benefit of a resurgent economy.”

Unemployment stood at 7.6 percent in March, and non-farm payrolls grew 88,000 for the month.

While it “remains to be seen” whether hiring is truly in an uptrend, McDonald’s has increased its hiring for late night and breakfast shifts, Thompson noted.

To be sure, some countries are strong for McDonald’s, such as the United Kingdom and Russia, he explained. “But across Europe you have a pretty mixed bag. We think Europe is going to be a much longer recovery”

Economists have mixed views about the first-quarter U.S. GDP data.

“We saw some good resilience from the consumer, particularly given all the headwinds,” Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase, told Bloomberg.

“The weakness in government spending is an issue. It’s going to be tough to repeat the first-quarter performance this quarter.”